This is part 3 of my Heroclix: Nations Prep Article! If you have not read parts 1 or 2 yet, please click below!
https://roc.ionsuite.com/news/?journal_blog_post_id=57 - Part 1
https://roc.ionsuite.com/news/?journal_blog_post_id=58 - Part 2
TROUBLE ALERTS
BTAS 072Firestorm – Sidestep, Energy Explosion, Probability Control. Firestorm pushes onto a +2 Perplex ability. He is also possessing the Wing Symbol which makes him a great taxi on the cheap should your turn go less than excellent. Firestorm is my favorite and most used Trouble Alert option.
BTAS 069 Green Lantern – Sidestep, Telekinesis, Barrier, Enhancement. The amount of utility he brings to your team is astounding. He also pushes onto Running Shot / Pulse Wave which is never bad. His weakness trait keys off “Yellow Powers” which pretty makes it a non-factor.
BTAS 067 Wonder Woman – Charge and Leadership. Wonder Woman can be great if you really needed one more action on a turn. She also packs her special attack power which has potential to token up an opponent force if you roll high enough.
BTAS 068 Flash – Hypersonic Speed, Precision Strike, Super Senses, Probability Control. The Flash is a solid option if you just need to get off that last hit on a figure. He pushes onto a Pulse Wave special power which has some fairly specific uses.
BTAS 063 Batman – Sidestep, Combat Reflexes, Batman Ally TA, and Outwit baby! The only trouble alert who comes in super clutch in nearly every situation. Batman has access to his all-important utility belt which allows him to use Smoke Cloud and gain pick a power for the attack slot in the processes. Having access to immediate Outwit is super important too as you can bring in Batman, Smoke Cloud on yourself and your opponent placing you in immediate Stealth and giving you access to any attack power you want. From there you can Outwit their defense power, pick Poison, and deal free damage without having to roll dice.
BTAS 064 Robin – Cheap Perplex that seems to always come back to you. Robin is a solid option when you just need that small stat bump.
There are of course other options in the Trouble Alert category, but I believe these options are the ones you should consider first.
EQUIPMENT
WKMP19 S001 Exospex - 12 points. Allows a figure 30 points or more who equips this object to choose either a standard speed or attack power and then can use the chosen power till your next turn while not being able to use any other standard powers in the chosen slot. Need to give a figure Running Shot? No problem. Wish you had access to Stealth? We go you boo. Exospex is a huge game changer as now you need to be ready for every figure to have access to Sidestep, Stealth, Mind Control, Plasticity, Poison, Pulse Wave, Pen/Psy, Flurry, Charge, ETC. And if you aren’t, then good luck to you. The saving grace here is they can be destroyed by a close or ranged destroy action, so if you need to score some easy points, go for it.
WKMP19 S003 Proxima Midnight’s Staff - 8 Points. Gives the ability for the wielder to use RANGE with a range value of 6 that either immobilizes the target or deals an additional 1 penetrating damage after resolutions. Commonly utilized on Hawkeye builds, this is one of the main reasons he is so deadly.
WKMP19 S101 Remaker Ring - 5 points. Grants the user Shape Change and Poison. Will have more uses after rotation since it pairs with other rings, but for now it's fairly straight forward.
SFSM S101 Symbiote and EX S006 Venom Symbiote - 6 and 4 points respectively. I am going to do these both at the same time because they are the same thing essentially. Shape Change, Plasticity, and Auto breakaway to the user. The only difference is the first one is immobile and indestructible and the second one is a light object and can be destroyed.
EX S004 Octopus Arms - 10 Points. Grants Giant Reach: 2, IM: HIndering and Elevated, and Flurry. Most commonly used on the Green Feathery Boy, the Oc Arms can be very dangerous in the wrong (or right?) hands. Be ready to take massive damage if you aren’t quick enough.
TMT S009 Mjolnir - 10 Points. Allows the user to make close attacks at range if targeting a single character and gains +1 attack and damage if adjacent to their target. Simple, yet effective.
TMT S011 Stormbreaker - 10 points. Grants the user +2 range, Quake, and Energy Explosion. Commonly used on EW Green Arrow as 10 range with Energy Explosion that gets around damage reducers is a pretty solid option.
JW S100 Joker’s Gas Canister - 3 Points. Making a resurgence with the Vulture teams, the gas canister can be broken next to someone to give the +1 attack and damage, -2 defense, and Battle Fury. Highly effective vs all that pesky shape change.
SPECIAL TERRAIN
WKMP17 008 Boxing Ring - 5 Points. The original special terrain. The boxing ring clears out a 5x5 square and creates some crazy stat mod scenarios when attempting to shoot out or into it. Commonly fielded by teams that don’t like mobility or teams with rather low defenses that can fill up the entire thing like X-Men, it ensures a semi-safe passage to the other end of the map.
WKDP17 V001 Invisible Plane & WKMP17 V001 Merc Jet - 5 Points. These 2x4 terrain dials are nearly one in the same as their primary uses include blocking off paths of movement and granting a hindered line of fire that gives an additional +1 when shooting through it. It is fairly common to see these guys used on maps like Genosha where hidey holes become very easily accessible for the team using them. These terrains do have potential to be destroyed if enough attacks are missed through them, but it typically does not happen.
AI G012 Tony Stark’s Car - 10 Points. A 2x2 Terrain that grants adjacent friendly characters Energy Shield / Deflection as well as all the other benefits of hindered lines of fire and a +1 when shooting through it. This terrain can also be destroyed and even moved, but for the most part it blocks paths and makes ranged attacks very annoying to use.
AI G005 Dune Buggy - 5 Points. A 2x2 Terrain that gives everyone within 4 squares a -1 attack. This typically can be paired with a figure like Uni-Mind at 295 so he can Perplex his defense by +6 and then you get -1 attack when trying to shoot him.
MAPS
I will not be covering maps in this article. Please see the link at the bottom for the map viewer which has every Modern Legal map listed and available to view.
SECTION 3 - Team Building
My original plan for this section was going to be to list out as many team ideas as possible and gives some helpful tips and tricks for altering to your liking, but with with how much time those of you that made it to the end of this article have spent reading this already, I think I’ll generalize a bit. Here are my top suggestions when building a team in preparation for the US National Tournament.
1. Make sure you are playing what you think is fun. This is honestly the most important rule. Yea, winning is cool and can make you feel good, but if you aren’t enjoying what you are playing, then what is the point? I am not saying, run your Killer Moth build because you enjoy the figure, but rather I am making a point that if you do not enjoy don’t die teams, then don’t play them! If you have to play big damage in order to enjoy Heroclix, then make sure you deal all the damages! The figures specifically are not the important part but rather the style and rhythm of your play. We can always customize the fig layout to your need, but you need to make sure you are going to rock it as hard as possible first.
2. Have access to Probability Control. Make sure that in some way, shape, or form, you can get Prob accessible for when you need it the most. I find myself breaking this rule in pursuit of some combination more often than I care to admit, but when the rubber hits the road, I always end up missing those shots that matter most. Just make prob a standard part of your team building, you will thank me later. Oh and i hear Mister Oz is pretty solid right now.
3. Work in ID cards and/or retaliation into your build. Both of these elements are some of the strongest aspects of Heroclix. Learn how to effectively utilize them with your build and it will get you out of rough spots and enable you to win games that would otherwise be unwinnable.
4. Make sure you only have 1 or 2 terrible matchups and maybe 1 additional not great matchup. The goal for your team building should be to have at least a 60/40 win percentage or even a 70/30 vs as many teams as possible. If you can increase those odds against certain builds, then great; but make sure you do not leave yourself open to too many bad matchups. With as many figures that are available right now, you simply cannot be ready for all of them. But eliminating as many issues as possible is a surefire way to guarantee success. ID card and retaliation are also great ways to eliminate some of those issues. If you play test against the top 10 teams and lost handily to 6 of them over and over again, it may mean you need to work on your build and iron out some of those issues.
5. Practice religiously. If your plan is to do as well as humanly possible at Nationals, then you need to be practicing. Some may say it sounds cliche, but if you do not have a solid idea of your matchups on as many different maps and scenarios as possible, you are going to have a bad time. It is physically impossible to playtest against everything, but you should know the top teams and what there ins and outs are. I find that playing those teams first hand can help you to really understand how they tick.
6. Have a good idea of what our opponents force does, and if you don’t, ASK TO READ THE CARDS! You should never be in a situation where “I didn’t realize what that figure did.” If you are unsure what a figure does, then make sure you read that card completely (Don’t look at the back of course) before you roll and dice or take any actions.
7. Enjoy the day and the people. Heroclix is about community and fun. At the end of the day, even if you do not do well, remember this is a game and we are all here to enjoy ourselves. Do not let a bad performance prevent you from having a great time. Remember, there is always next time. :)
Vist Heroclix.com to view all the upcoming information about sets and events pertaining to the National Championship!
Visit HCRealms to view all of the dial information on the figures I talked about in the article. I listed the set names and numbers for each of them, so it should be easy to find! Keep in mind that not everything on realms is 100 percent accurate so be sure to cross reference with your actual cards and figures!
Visit the Heroclix Map Viewer to take a look at all the maps available! Keep in mind that Nationals will have a limited map list, so be sure to keep that in mind and pay attention to their announcements in the weeks to come!
Visit the following links to view builds and teams from the past several months. All of these builds are very much relevant and should be considered and prepared for!
https://roc.ionsuite.com/news/?journal_blog_post_id=44
https://roc.ionsuite.com/news/?journal_blog_post_id=46
https://roc.ionsuite.com/news/?journal_blog_post_id=47
https://roc.ionsuite.com/news/?journal_blog_post_id=48
https://roc.ionsuite.com/news/?journal_blog_post_id=50
https://roc.ionsuite.com/news/?journal_blog_post_id=53
http://majestixccg.com/apex-insiders/events/2019-roc-states-winning-lists-april-6th-7th/
http://majestixccg.com/apex-insiders/events/2019-roc-states-winning-lists-april-13th-14th/
http://majestixccg.com/apex-insiders/articles/2019-roc-states-provincials-winning-lists/
Unit next time, have a wonderful week, and don’t you dare roll a crit miss!
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